Crains New York: This new tool could help you save on health care. “The colorful site, which Crain’s previewed ahead of its Sept. 12 launch, offers options for calculating costs based on a single procedure or a full episode of care. It pairs its features with instructional videos so users know what they are looking at. Perhaps the most useful feature is the ability to compare costs by provider for some common procedures, including those associated with obstetrical care and orthopedics. However, users will have to go elsewhere for quality ratings.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

FBI: Free Cyber Safety Program Redesigned for New School Year. “The FBI’s Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge—a free, educational program for children that teaches cyber safety—has been redesigned for the 2017-2018 school year, with new graphics and updated content. The new SOS program, created for students in third through eighth grades, covers age-appropriate topics, such as cyberbullying, passwords, malware, social media, and more. The program also provides teachers with a curriculum that meets state and federal Internet safety mandates.”

TechCrunch: Facebook is testing a feature for mentorships between users. “Earlier this year, Facebook signalled a plan to move into LinkedIn’s territory with the launch of job advertising. Now it appears to be taking another step to help develop the professional you. TechCrunch has learned that Facebook is testing a way to use its social network to link up users who are looking for mentorships, either as mentors or mentees.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CBCNews: Google Street View vows to come back when Windsor ‘looks its best’. “Google Street View has agreed to stop camera crews from rolling through Windsor’s streets until mountains of flood debris have been cleared to avoid a repeat of the debacle that saw the tech giant snap pictures of garbage-strewn streets during the height of the 101-day CUPE strike.”

Computerworld: Australian Navy trials Google Glass. “The Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) has staged a proof of concept using Google Glass for aviation maintenance…. The aim was to assess the benefits of using Google Glass to present a head-up display (HUD) to maintenance workers during work on FAA aircraft. It involved using Glass headsets in conjunction with tablets as an alternative to using laptops during some maintenance work on the AS350BA Squirrel helicopter.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: It’s September 2017, and .NET lets PDFs hijack your Windows PC. “While much of the tech world is still fixating on Apple’s $1,000 face-reading iPhone, administrators are going to be busy testing and deploying this month’s Patch Tuesday load. Microsoft, Adobe, and Google have all released patches to mark the second Tuesday of the month. The updates include fixes for Flash, Edge, Internet Explorer, and Android.”

ZDNet: Security flaws put billions of Bluetooth phones, devices at risk. “The more serious flaws allow an attacker to gain control of affected devices and their data, and steal sensitive business data from corporate networks. Malware exploiting the attack vector may be particularly virulent by passing peer-to-peer and jumping laterally, infecting adjacent devices when Bluetooth is switched on, said the researchers.”

BetaNews: Malvertising continues to rise as tactics change . “The second quarter of 2017 saw over 18 percent more adverts containing blacklisted content — phishing, scams, exploit kits, and malware — than Q1 according to a new report. The study from threat management company RiskIQ shows some seasonal changes in the pattern of traffic, with a 24.2 percent drop in exploit kits, and a 42.7 percent drop in malware. However this was more than offset by a huge 131.3 percent rise in phishing-related ads.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Arizona State University: ASU anthropologists design method for studying groups on social media. “It’s official: Anthropology has gone high tech. From online museum exhibits to digital repositories and even the use of satellites to survey archaeological sites, there’s a 21st-century twist on nearly every facet of this evolving field. That includes ethnography, the study of cultures. Though ethnographers have historically observed their subjects in person, the fact that we now live so much of our lives online means these scientists also have a growing interest in the virtual human experience.”

The Intercept: Make Mark Zuckerberg Testify. “LAST WEEK, after what must have been a series of extremely grim meetings in Menlo Park, Facebook admitted publicly that part of its revenue includes what appears to be politically motivated fraud undertaken by a shady Russian company. The social network, perhaps motivated by a Washington Post scoop on the matter, released a statement outlining the issues at hand, but leaving the most important questions unanswered. Only Facebook knows these answers, and we should assume they won’t be eager to volunteer them.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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